About St George’s Bloomsbury
- A short history
- Staff at St George’s Bloomsbury
- A tour of St George’s Bloomsbury
   - Interior: alterations to Hawksmoor’s
     original design
   - Nave
   - Galleries and organ
   - East apse and furnishings
   - Undercroft
   - South front and steeple
   - North front
   - Further reading
- Restoration
- Family history research

The south front, described by Pevsner as “the most grandiose
of London’s 18th century church fronts,” is dominated by a
large Corinthian portico. Near-contemporaries of Hawksmoor
(particularly the antiquarian William Stukeley, Rector of
nearby St George’s, Queen’s Square), believed that the
inspiration behind the portico was the Roman Temple of
Bacchus at Baalbek in the Lebanon. This view is supported
by the fact that, in 1703, Hawksmoor was commissioned to
provide illustrations for a book about the Baalbek temples
written by Henry Maundrell; did these drawings serve as a
model for the south front of St George’s?

Looking up at the tower, you can see recessed arches; a
typical feature of Hawksmoor’s work (see Christ Church
Spitalfields), however, the steeple is completely unique. The
statue of George I at its pinnacle was paid for by William
Hucks; parishioner, MP for Abingdon and royal brewer, whose
motives for doing so must remain a matter for debate. The
statue sits proudly on top of a stepped pyramid whose design
was based upon Pliny’s description of the Mausoleum at
Halicarnassus (Turkey). Architects of this period would often
include full or partial reconstructions of classical structures in
their designs; a similar stepped pyramid can be seen on top
the west dome of Wren’s 1673 (Great Model) design for St
Paul’s Cathedral; however, St George’s was the first time
such a pyramid had been built as part of a final design.

The lions and unicorns clambering around the base of the
steeple are reconstructions, created by the sculptor Tim
Crawley and installed on the tower in 2006. The original lions
and unicorns were commissioned by Hawksmoor without the
permission of the Commissioners, who initially refused to pay for them. They were removed in the 1870s for reasons that remain unclear; with the steeple as a whole in “a dangerous state” (parish minutes) were the costs of repairing/preserving them too high or had years of derision made them unwanted? They were certainly held in affection by some as they can be clearly seen (in replica) on top of the two 20th Century lamps located at the portico steps.

To continue the tour, click here